Take Sunday’s Korea Open final for example, where Iga Swiatek
was outperformed by Ekaterina Alexandrova in nearly every single statistical category, including total points won.
Yet it was Swiatek who prevailed in Seoul, rallying to defeat Alexandrova 1-6, 7-6 (3), 7-5 in 2 hours and 41 minutes. The victory marked her third title of the season and the 25th of her career.
She is now 25-5 all-time in WTA finals.
“Hopefully we’re going to play more finals because it’s always tough against you, but it’s also entertaining.”
That “tried to stay alive” mentality ultimately gave Swiatek the edge in a match defined by razor-thin margins – aside from the lopsided opening set.
Alexandrova, the clear underdog, came out swinging and needed just 30 minutes to take the first set in convincing fashion, breaking Swiatek in the opening game and never looking back.
Swiatek flipped the script to start the second set, breaking Alexandrova immediately. But the momentum shifted again as Alexandrova broke back in the next game. The two then traded holds until it came time for a tiebreak, where Swiatek finally looked to be the one in control for the first time in the match.
She jumped out to a 3-0 lead, extended it to 5-2 and closed out the tiebreak 7-3 to force a decider.
Early in the third, Swiatek handed Alexandrova a break with three double faults in one game, falling behind 2-1. But she recovered, leveling the set at 3-all and taking the lead for just the second time in the match in the next game.
From there, scoreboard pressure worked in Swiatek’s favor. As Alexandrova served to stay in the match, Swiatek turned up the heat – blasting a cross-court forehand winner on her second match point to put away her opponent and seal the comeback.
Despite the loss, Alexandrova led nearly every key stat: she had more aces (6 to 2), fewer double faults (6 to 9), a higher first-serve percentage (595 to 535), a higher percentage of first serves won (66% to 58%), more winners (30 to 23), fewer unforced errors (25 to 40), more break points created (8 vs. 7) and a better conversion rate (63% to 43%), and most notably, more total points won (108 to 97).
But Swiatek was simply more clutch.
In the moments that mattered most – serving down 5-4 in the second set while Alexandrova was two points from victory, during the tiebreak, or when she trailed by a break in the third set – Swiatek showed exactly why she once held the world No. 1 ranking, and why she may reclaim it in the not-so-distant future.
For now, Swiatek remains No. 2 in both the PIF WTA Rankings as well as No. 2 in the Race to the WTA Finals.
But that’s not what matters most to her at the moment. With this title, Swiatek finally delivered a lasting legacy in Seoul – something her father, Tomasz Swiatek, narrowly missed.
“I’m happy that I could win here because of the family history,” Swiatek said. “My dad couldn’t win the Olympics [here] but at least I won this tournament. So hopefully he’s going to come next year to enjoy everything.”
wtatennis.com
Iga went from no titles to winning a Grand Slam, a WTA 1000 and a WTA 500 in a span of a few months.
Not a bad way to turn your season around. This one was extra special given how hard she had to fight to win it (as well as her dad taking part in the 1988 Seoul Olympics).
Not having her best tennis on the day. Champions always find a way as the saying goes, she continues her great run when it comes to finals.
First final in her career she had to won from a set down too. With how much she has done in her young career thus far sometimes it catches me off guard that there are still firsts she has yet to experience.
I have been watching this sport since my teens and to this day I'm still surprised how one player can win a match despite playing worse than their opponent.
Iga had a negative ratio of winners to errors and only made just over 50 percent of serves the entire match yet somehow she still won. Tennis truly is about winning the clutch points, and the definition of not how you start but how you finish.
I think it's one of the things that reminds why I love this sport so much and stick with it year after year.
I hope these type of matches remind Iga once more that she is capable of scrapping and fighting and making a comeback even when not at her best on the day. I hope she uses this as a great confidence builder for the remainder of the season.
So that's 25 out of 30 finals that Iga has played at just 24 years of age. It's the stuff of legends and her career has barely begun.
Phenomenal.
With this win Iga became only the 2nd Polish woman to win in Seoul since Aga Radwanska in 2013 (who coincidently was also seeded first and also came back from losing the first set).
